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As we approach the thirty day mark since the United States, and other Western countries began imposing a series of rigorous sanctions on the Russian economy and key components thereof, we are starting to see real evidence of their broad impact. Unfortunately, that includes significant impacts that Western companies are being forced to bear. In some cases, large multinationals that could arguably continue to operate in Russia or with Russian partners are voluntarily electing to walk away from the country, whether due to the complication involved in navigating a dynamic sanctions environment, ambiguity around beneficial ownership of high risk partners, reputational concerns, a calculation that it was the right thing to do, or all of the above. However, other Western companies less well-situated to simply walk away from Russian business entanglements are finding themselves left with little choice but to absorb millions of dollars in losses.